


Walking Into the Unkown

by notsodarling



Series: Alex Manes Appreciation Week 2019 [2]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Post finale fic, alex manes appreciation week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 08:19:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18735202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notsodarling/pseuds/notsodarling
Summary: Prompt: Alex interacting with others he hasn’t yet...There have not been many moments in Alex’s life where he’s been taken completely by surprise. But seeing Rosa Ortecho sitting on the sofa in Max Evans’ living room is something he is completely and utterly unprepared for.





	Walking Into the Unkown

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the fic about Alex wearing red as armor because it was Rosa's thing, and then I realized I want to write more of the two of them, and I really hope we get some of their interactions in S2.
> 
> Title from "Finally Free" by Niall Horan.
> 
> Enjoy <3

There have not been many moments in Alex’s life where he’s been taken completely by surprise. The way Michael Guerin had looked at him in the shed that day 10 years ago was among the first. The Air Force had since taught him to be prepared for any eventuality, to cover his bases and  _ not _ allow for surprises, not allow to be taken off guard. Being taken by surprise in the Middle East could mean death, and even if he believed for a certain amount of time there weren’t many people left who would mourn him, Alex always planned on surviving. The Air Force was not a death wish to him - it was a way to  _ win battles _ that he’d never been given the correct tools to fight before.

But seeing Rosa Ortecho sitting on the sofa in Max Evans’ living room is something he is completely and utterly  _ unprepared _ for, and he has no problem admitting that.

“Rosa?” His voice cracks saying her name, but Alex finds he doesn’t care. 

_ She’s alive _ . 

Liz is sitting next to her, and Maria is perched on one of the stools next to the kitchen counter. Alex spares a moment to wonder where Max Evans is, since it’s his house, but knows it’s doesn’t really matter because  _ Rosa is alive _ . He stands inside the door, unmoving because he doesn’t quite remember  _ how _ in that moment, staring at her, just taking her in - how she looks exactly the same, which shouldn’t be such a surprise because this is Roswell, and aliens exist, so is it really surprising someone can be brought back from the dead?

“How?” He asks, still standing just inside the door, because it’s been  _ ten years _ , this shouldn’t be possible

“Doesn’t matter,” she replies, and Alex finally unsticks himself from where he’s standing and nearly collapses on the sofa into the space next to her, wrapping his arms around her. He feels her do the same, feels her arms wrap around his back, hears her laugh, feels her breath on his neck, feels her hair brush across his face - all reminding him that’s she’s here, she’s alive.

When he pulls back from her finally, he notices that Liz and Maria are gone, as if knowing that Alex needed - wanted - his own moment with her. Clearly they’d already had their own, and he appreciates that level of love and understanding between the four of them.

“How about you tell me what I’ve missed.”

Alex knows there are tears in his eyes, because he loves Maria and Liz, but it had been Rosa who really knew about how bad it was at home for him. It was Rosa he’d confided in 10 years ago about the almost-kiss in the shed with Michael. It was Rosa who helped him plan how to get out of Roswell and away from his father after graduation, and never look back. Rosa had been the glue in their group, and her death had left them shattered and into pieces - fragments scattered to the wind.

“I’ve missed you,” he replies instead, and just watches as the smile spreads across her face. He lets her reach up to rest her hand on his cheek, relishes in the touch, because it just keeps reminding him that she’s real and she’s here and she’s alive.

“You had Liz and Maria.”

Alex shakes his head.

“I’ve spent the past ten years in the Air Force,” he finally admits, his voice quiet, waiting for the disappointment to appear on Rosa’s face, because he knows he deserves it for giving in, for doing that one thing he always swore he wouldn’t. 

“What happened?” Rosa reaches out and takes his hands in hers, and Alex feels himself deflate. Lets his shoulders relax, feels the last bit of tension fall from his body. Because of course,  _ of course _ , she doesn’t judge him. Of course she’d just ask him to explain what happened instead. “It must have been bad for you to-”

Alex looks away, trying to find the words.

“It was perfect,” he starts, bringing his gaze back to hers. “Michael looked at me, and I just - but we were in the shed, and my dad found us.” Alex pauses when he feels Rosa squeeze his hand, because she  _ knows _ . Even before he says it, he knows she knows. “He shattered the bones in Michael’s hand, and something in me broke that night.”

Rosa get that look in her eyes, the one that tells Alex she  _ understands _ .

“And now it’s like, we’re never on the same page,” Alex continues. “Like too much time has passed. But I still love him.”

It feels freeing, in a way, to finally say the words out loud. To finally admit them, free of metaphors and hidden meanings. 

“You look happy.” 

Does he? It’s taken months for him to get to this point. Coming back to Roswell, learning how to be himself again - relearning what that even means, has been the biggest challenge. He and Michael have crashed together, and fallen apart, and Alex has walked away, and Michael had put his own walls up in the meantime, and Alex isn’t quite sure if  _ happy _ is the right word, but for now he’ll take it. Maria’s  _ hopeful _ feels more accurate, but Alex isn’t about to argue with someone who just came back from the dead.

“I’m still dealing with my dad. Trying to stay one step ahead of him.”

Rosa bites her lip, as if debating what to say next, and Alex can’t help but raise his eyebrows at her, egging her on. From everything he’s learned over the past several months, he doubts there’s anything she can tell him that he doesn't know now. Though to her, it might seem like he shouldn’t know anything. He’s not entirely clear on what the passage of time has been like for her - if it exists at all.

“You’ve missed a lot.”

“Like how now everyone  _ finally  _ knows about aliens?”

Alex just smiles in response, unsure of how to even respond to that. He’d guessed that Rosa had known after he and Kyle had come across the bunker at the cabin, and after he’d found the alien glass hidden in the wall. Process of elimination told him that it was unlikely Rosa hadn’t told Jim Valenti her suspicions - especially if she was able to figure out on her own that he was her biological father.

“Or that you're actually a Valenti?” Alex can't help himself.

“I mean, you’re the one who kissed an alien in the UFO Emporium,” Rosa laughs, and Alex hasn’t even really let himself think about that. 

He levels her with a look, and raises his eyebrows, because of course he’s thought about it. Ever since he confronted his father about Project Shepard in the bunker all those weeks ago, and came across his father’s research into the Evans twins and Michael Guerin, it’s been something that Alex has occasionally thought of. But he’d never gotten the chance to bring it up to Michael, it’s never been the right moment for the two of them to laugh over the ridiculous perfection of that moment. Even during their talk in the junkyard, they’d both skipped over that day, as if the memories were too painful for either of them to bring up.

“So I guess you know it wasn’t really Isobel Evans that-”

“Yeah, Liz cleared that up.” 

Alex nods, because he knows he’s changing the subject, but it hurts talking about Michael. It hurts thinking about Michael, because Alex hasn’t talked to him since that night in the Airstream, and he has no idea if he’s okay, or what’s happened to him in the meantime. But it’s been less than 24 hours since that happened, and Alex knows the main reason Liz called him over here is probably to help piece together some sort of identity for Rosa, though he’s still unsure how they’re going to explain anything to anyone - specifically Arturo.

“You’ll figure it out,” Rosa says, doubling back to their original topic, and Alex feels  _ watched _ now, as if she’s regarding him, and trying to make sure she’s getting a reading on him - it’s very similar to the look Maria gives him when she’s doing her psychic thing. “Tell me more about what you’ve done to your father.”

“For starters,” Alex begins, “I outrank him.”

Rosa doesn’t need to say anything, but Alex can just see how proud she is in the way she laughs, and in the way she smiles, and in the way she squeezes his hands in encouragement. And nothing is  _ better _ , there's still so much for then to deal with, but it feels good to finally be able to take a moment and breathe.


End file.
